TCI Magazine Audio Edition

BY JARED BAXTER “How much does it cost to cut down a tree?” Well, that is a “million-dollar question.” To help answer the question, let’s go through a hypothetical scenario. Remember to get your free subscription to TCI Magazine by clicking here .

BY RYFE GREENWOOD On a cold February day, “Derek,” my groundie, stopped working and began complaining of stomach pains. The other climber and I were aloft pruning a massive pin oak. I told him he would be able to drive himself home in about 10 minutes, after I hit the ground.  Remember to get your free subscription to TCI Magazine by clicking here .

By TCIA Staff If you’re in the tree care world, ticks are more than a seasonal nuisance – they’re an occupational hazard. On TreeBuzz, a forum where arborists swap war stories and wisdom, a recent thread dug into ticks, Lyme disease and the oddball allergy known as alpha-gal. The conversation was frank, sometimes funny and loaded with lessons for anyone who spends their workdays in the woods. Reme...

BY DAVID M. ANDERSON, CTSP What are the key ingredients for making a great arboricultural salesperson? Remember to get your free subscription to TCI Magazine by clicking here .

BY ANDREAS ALUIA, CTSP, AND DYLAN PENKETHMAN It was a perfect summer Saturday in Medford, Massachusetts, a small suburb just west of Boston. Steve Mauras, fire department district chief of neighboring Somerville, was driving by a municipal park while running errands. He glanced at the impressive oak tree that towers over the athletic fields and noticed several people suspended from ropes high up i...

BY CHRIS GIRARD It goes without saying that the tree care industry is filled with many people who are unsung heroes in the field of arboriculture. Robert Phillips most certainly is one of them. Remember to get your free subscription to TCI Magazine by clicking here .

BY BRIAN KANE, PH.D. Decay is a common defect that occurs in all parts of a tree. Decayed wood has very little strength and often leads to hollows, cavities or both. When decay or a hollow is present in a tree part, its load-bearing capacity is reduced. The amount of reduction depends on the extent of decay – how much is present and where it’s located in the cross section. Remember to get your fre...

By TCIA Staff When a woman calling herself GoldenLarch logged into the TreeBuzz arborist forum in late 2020, she wasn’t looking for applause – she was looking for honesty. At 28, after leaving a customer-service career and earning a horticulture certificate, she’d fallen hard for trees and the art of climbing them. “The allure of climbing is so strong for me,” she wrote, though she worried whether...

By TCIA Staff Every industry breeds its own folklore. In tree work, cutting, hinging and rigging theories might make for some of the loudest campfire stories of all. On a TreeBuzz thread dealing with these topics, a post about “rip cuts” lit up the board – veteran climbers, would-be physicists and wisecracking pirates all weighing in. The premise was that a controlled tear could turn a brutal stop...

 BY JON GERSTENBERGER AND MARK CHISHOLM, CTSP During the past few years, TCIA has been working on a group of strategic initiatives we’ve called “game changers” – things that, when accomplished, will change the fundamental experience of our member interactions with TCIA and, by extension, how TCIA engages with the tree care industry Remember to get your free subscription to TCI Magazine by clicking...

By TCIA Staff This discussion began on July 19, 2025, when a climber using the handle DRBetz started a thread on the TreeBuzz forum titled “Let’s Talk About Electrical Awareness.” Within a few days, the post had drawn replies from more than a dozen arborists, all dissecting a near miss that could easily have turned fatal. Remember to get your free subscription to TCI Magazine by clicking here .

By TCIA Staff When Urbana, Illinois, arborist Mike Poor first rolled onto a job site with a remote-controlled knuckleboom crane in the late 1990s, the reactions were a mix of awe and head scratching. “That is the oddest-looking crane I’ve ever seen,” one colleague quipped.  Remember to get your free subscription to TCI Magazine by clicking here .

BY PAUL WOLFE II Most of us have pretty good memories. Like taking the driver’s-license test, first dates with our significant other, a sibling’s birth date, etc. I don’t remember any of those things as time is slowly eroding my mind. I do, however, vividly recall the first tree I climbed as a professional. Remember to get your free subscription to TCI Magazine by clicking here .

BY RYFE GREENWOOD I get it, your tree service needs production, and you need it now. Your employee retention is precarious, and the labor pool in your area is emptier than the Grand Canyon. Prematurely tapping a new crew leader seems like your only option. However, promoting to crew leader too early only sets up your business for failure.  Remember to get your free subscription to TCI Magazine by...

by Jon Gerstenberger TCI Magazine celebrated 35 years of publication in 2025. For 427 issues, since June 1990 – through recessions, global pandemics and spikes in printing and postage costs – TCI Magazine has hit the industry’s mailboxes every single month. Remember to get your free subscription to TCI Magazine by clicking here .

BY TAMSIN VENN As a self-professed tree nerd, there is nothing Bret MacKay likes to do more than climb trees, preferably white oaks. Except for one thing – teaching his fellow arborists how to do it safely.  Remember to get your free subscription to TCI Magazine by clicking here .

BY TIM BARTELT Deciding if and when to spend money on large capital-equipment expenditures is a strategic part of any business, and the tree care industry is not immune to that struggle. Buy outright or finance? Long-term rental or RPO (rental-purchase option)? These are questions being mulled on a daily basis, and interest rates, tariffs and business/economic outlook are all factors to consider....

BY ANTHONY TRESSELT Crane-assisted rigging is a complex layering of skills, equipment and knowledge. Like many involved tasks, it looks relatively simple when done well. However, the truth is that when poorly planned, cranes and trees can be a difficult combination.  Remember to get your free subscription to TCI Magazine by clicking here .

BY TIM BARTELT Editor’s note: Two readers contacted TCI Magazine last winter suggesting we do a story about Floyd Taylor. The first was Nathan J. Wright, CTSP, ISA Certified Arborist and manager distribution forestry with National Grid Western Division in Fredonia, N.Y. Remember to get your free subscription to TCI Magazine by clicking here .

BY JOHN BALL, PH.D, BCMA, CTSP Electrical hazards to tree workers are, for the most part, within the realm of those who access tree canopies. True, we do have electrocutions and electric-shock injuries among ground workers, but they are the minority. Tree canopies and electric supply lines often are intertwined with, or at least near, climbers and  aerial-device operators.  Remember to get your fr...

BY NATHAN KROIS For years, professional arborists and forestry crews have relied on steady improvements in chain-saw design to keep pace with the demands of their work. Remember to get your free subscription to TCI Magazine by clicking here .

BY JEFF INMAN, CTSP, TRAQ Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you’re trying to have a conversation with someone and they don’t agree with what you’re saying? You could be making the best case in the universe for your point of view, with facts, figures, graphs, statistics, life stories, testimonies, technological advancements, etc.  Remember to get your free subscription to TCI Magazi...

Compiled by Peter Gerstenberger We went through the upcoming revision of the ANSI Z133 Safety Standard, pulling out and listing here in sequential order all the relevant parts that affect lift operations near conductors. These apply to conventional truck-mounted lifts as well as “boom-supported elevated work platforms,” or compact lifts.  Remember to get your free subscription to TCI Magazine by c...

BY MICHAEL J. RAUPP, PH.D., AND PAULA M. SHREWSBURY, PH.D. In Part 1 of this article (TCI Magazine, October 2025), we introduced four foundational elements useful in diagnosing problems with trees and shrubs, represented by the acronym SPSD, and discussed the first “S,” which stands for “site,” and the “P,” which stands for “plant.” In part 2, we’ll discuss the second “S,” which stands for the “sy...

BY PETER GERSTENBERGER The Tree Care Industry Association in August welcomed George Strout as its Strout will lead TCIA’s efforts to mobilize tree care professionals across the country in support of smart policy and industry advancement. With more than a decade of experience in grassroots organizing, legislative strategy and PAC (political action committee) engagement, Strout brings a deep underst...